Question: If the sales tax in your city is $7.5\%$, how much tax would you pay for an item that costs $\$78$ before tax? Round to the nearest cent.
Answer: In order to find the amount of sales tax you would pay, multiply the sales tax by the original price of the item. ${7.5\%} \times {\$78} =$ Percent means "out of one hundred," so $7.5\%$ is equivalent to $7.5 \div 100$ $7.5 \div 100 = 0.075$ Multiply the sales tax you just converted into a decimal by the original price to find the amount of sales tax that must be paid. Round to the nearest cent. $0.075$ $\times$ $$78$ = $$5.85$ You would pay $$5.85$ in sales tax.